When You Say Nothing At All
by pearlydewdrop
Summary: Night had long since fallen by the time the young couple finally reached their destination. The Renault came smoothly to a halt outside the Swann Inn and even in the darkness Tom Branson was particularly mindful of the potholes so as not to disturb his sleeping fiancée. (Sybil/Tom) Season 2 Oneshot. Canon Compliant.


**When You Say Nothing At All**

_..._

_It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart,_

_Without saying a word, you can light up the dark._

_Try as I may I can never explain,_

_What I hear when you don't say a thing._

_..._

The sky was navy blue and dotted with small twinkling stars. It spread out like swathes of darkened silk from horizon to horizon, cloaking the small town's silent cobblestoned streets.

Night had long since fallen by the time the young couple finally reached their destination. The Renault came smoothly to a halt outside the Swann Inn, even in the darkness Tom Branson was particularly mindful of the potholes so as not to disturb his sleeping fiancée.

Years had passed since the first time he had driven Lady Sybil Crawley in the motor. However, this time was very different—and pleasantly so.

It was the first time where Sybil wasn't dutifully situated in the backseat with the two of them seated a decent and respectable distance from one another as the rules of their society would dictate was only right and proper for two young people of such differing social classes.

No, this time his darling Sybil was beside him in the front, her head resting on his shoulder as they drove off into the night...driving towards their future.

Tom glanced at her over his shoulder as they pulled up in front of the Swann Inn.

Looking at her here in the darkness, the two of them truly alone for the first time, Tom began to fully grasp what they where about to do. He and Sybil were on the cusp of a new life together...that mere fact was enough for the young Irish man to feel as though he were about to burst with happiness.

But as he watched her in the darkness-smiling softly in sleep, the monumental nature of what Sybil was giving up for a life with him wasn't lost on Tom Branson, but he knew that he would forever keep the vow he made to her that day in York.

The day he promised_ to dedicate his every waking minute to her happiness._

Tom recalled another moment between them, a more recent one. Specifically, he recalled her words from earlier on that day, words that would forever be written upon his heart.

_'My answer is yes'._

As long as he lived, Tom Branson was damn bloody sure he would never stop treasuring the look on Sybil's face when she accepted his proposal...never. Her smile and the way her eyes shone with hope for their future; the memory was as much an integral part of him now as his arm or leg.

"Love", Tom whispered, his lips hovering over the cartilage of her ear. "Sybil darlin', we've arrived."

Gently, he reached out and touched her cheek, lingering for a second in an attempt to garner the attention of his own sleeping beauty.

Tom's brain felt giddy at the notion that he could actually touch her now...touch her in ways a man could touch the woman he loves... and not in the impersonal and distant way an employee is supposed to treat the daughter of his employer.

The Great English Lady and The Man Who Drove The Car: those were the roles that the pair of them had been confined to for so long...roles that they had chosen to cast aside in exchange for a life spent side by side. Both of them were so much more than those roles, especially when they were together. Being with Sybil in this way felt good, it felt liberating and it felt more right and natural than Tom could have ever hoped or dreamed.

Sybil smiled sleepily into his shoulder, her cheeks darkening in momentary bashfulness when she realised that she had dozed off while her fiancée was driving them.

But that didn't last long.

The notion of coyness around one another seemed rather moot at this point (in a way it always had been), she and Tom, from day one, had understood each other in ways that no one else did.

Noticing the look of pure happiness and total longing on the face of her favourite Irishman, Sybil's eyes lit up with a playful smirk.

It was truly a smirk that Tom would have seen a mile away, let alone in the semidarkness.

"I'm afraid you'll have to do better than that", she told him challengingly, ducking her head further into the crook of his neck, reminding Tom of a sleepy kitten.

He could feel her smile against his skin...a smile brighter than even the moon above them.

Tom chuckled, suddenly feeling very awake and alert despite their long drive. The mischievousness that glistened in her eyes when she stole a quick glance up at him was more than apt to do a thing like that to him.

"Is that so?", he asked teasingly, his Irish brogue thickening—her message was heard loud and clear.

He knew what she wanted. It was what he wanted too.

Seamlessly but with a certain softness, Tom tucked two fingers underneath Sybil's chin and leaned down a little to carefully cover her lips with his own.

He tried to be soft and he tried to be gentle, but all of that went straight out the window when his darling fiancée unexpectedly lifted herself out of her seat and settled herself on his lap-her fingers getting lost in his thick sandy coloured hair.

Feeling more like a schoolboy than the almost thirty year old man that he was, a yelp escaped Tom's lips when he discovered what Sybil was up to.

The young aristocrat smirked affectionately against his lips, the truth in her eyes telling him that she was exactly where she wanted to be. "Don't look at me so surprised, Tom. I was hardly going to try and kiss you from all the way over there. It could prove rather uncomfortable."

Tom growled softly, eliciting a giggle from his rebellious fiancée as she determinedly set both of her hands on either side of his face...the hunger and longing in her eyes reflecting the deeply rooted feelings that Tom felt with such strength, intensity and earnest in his chest.

His Sybil was woman on a mission indeed.

Without a word, he reached for her again...bringing their bodies closer until together they felt far less like two and rather more like one

...and so, just like as it had been in the garage, kissing Sybil Crawley quickly made Tom Branson feel as though he had swallowed a lit firework and washed it down with a shot of Jameson's.

Good God, how he totally and completely loved this woman!

_..._

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me,_

_There's a truth in your eyes, saying you'll never leave me,_

_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall,_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all._

_..._


End file.
